Spring time is here!

We had a great clean-up on Earth Day with our youth and others who came out from Buffalo State College, Sean Ryan's office, and David Rivera's office.  We really appreciate the support from our local representatives!

We also have a lot going on with our programs coming up.  We took a week off after finishing up our 4-week series with University of Buffalo, but we have programs again today, starting at 5pm.  Here's a highlight of some of the work the Writing Club has been doing:

This was from a few weeks ago, when they focused on identity.  This one was my favorite because of the "we are" statement :)

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday:

 

Issa hanging out with Johnnie in their PUSH swag

 

Madey and Musa showing off their jump rope skills, while

Amanda and Jamie keep the rope turning

Grant Street Clean-Up with PUSH and WEDI!

In celebration of Earth Day, PUSH is partnering with WEDI (Westside Economic Development Initiative) to hold a clean-up next Monday, April 22nd.  We will start at the West Side Bazaar at 25 Grant Street and work our way up to the Center at 271 Grant Street, cleaning from Ferry up to Delavan.

Meet at the West Side Bazaar at 3pm and join us for drinks and snacks at the Center starting around 6pm.  We will also have a couple prizes for our volunteers (two PUSH tshirts!).  Help keep our community clean!

Catching up with April events!

There is so much going on!  Make sure to keep stopping by to see what's up :)

As mentioned in our last post, we finished up our workshops with UB last week.  If you haven't seen the video yet, check it out and leave a comment!  We had a great attendance for our final week where we were able to share what each group put together.  We also did a brainstorm activity where we really looked at how peace and violence can cancel each other out.  This was what Girl Talk came up with:

Last week, we also made a banner for The Service Collaborative's project "What Will You Bring to the Table?", which focused on the issue of child hunger both in our community and around the world.  Bethany and Keith brought it to their AmeriCorps training last Friday and got a hundred signatures on the pledge!  AmeriCorps members came up with different ways we can end food insecurity ... see what the wrote below:

Lastly, we held an UNO tournament last Thursday.  Arag took him the top prize, a $10 gift card to McDonald's.  Here are some photos of the final round between Arag, Issa, Boncko, and Musa:

We have a lot more coming up, so stop by or keep reading here!

"Breaking Down Violence" with UB and PUSH

We are nearing the end of our four-week workshop series with University of Buffalo.  We spent the last few weeks with a graduate class in the Graduate School of Education to really focus on different issues associated with violence.  Usually, our three groups don't focus on the same topic so these workshops had us all talking about the same thing: What is violence and how does affect our lives?

Our "Word Swag" Writing Club focused on the issue of bullying and will be presenting what they've learned in the last two weeks and how they feel about bullying.

Guy Talk put together a video on different ways we can deal with conflict resolution.  See the video here!



Lastly, Girl Talk focused on the violence that happens in relationships and between men and women.  They did a small art project focusing on awareness of the issue with empowering messages for women in tough situations.

It's been awhile, so I will try and keep this blog updated to keep everyone in the loop about what we've been doing!

- Janice